Evaluation and assessment are often confused. As stated in Field Manual 7-0, Training, “only commanders assess unit training.” Commanders base their assessment on observed performance and other feedback. FM 7-0 identifies evaluation as “the observation of performance against known standards.”
Trained and certified observers, whether internal or external to the unit, record performance of the task during execution. As commanders prepare their assessment of unit training, they need a starting point from which to consider unit proficiency. Training and Evaluation Outlines (T&EOs) provide the standard against which tasks are evaluated. Commanders use task evaluations with T&EOs as a starting point for their unit proficiency assessment.
Training and evaluation outlines
A training and evaluation outline is a proponent developed summary document that provides performance and proficiency standards for individual and collective tasks. It provides information on individual or collective task training objectives, resource requirements, and evaluation procedures. Training and evaluation outlines provide important training information that informs successful task execution (FM 7-0 Appendix D). T&EOs have three primary purposes:
- Trainers use T&EOs to prepare and practice task execution.
- Evaluators use T&EOs to observe and evaluate task proficiency.
- Commanders use T&EOs to help assess collective task proficiency as part of feedback.
Collective Task T&EOs are identified by the task number and task title. The task title states what is to be done, the echelon doing the task, and in many cases, the specific type of element executing the task. For example, task number 07-CO-1092 is titled, Conduct an Attack – Rifle Company (IBCT).
Fig 1. Example company level task header. The header indicates the task is approved as well as the effective date.
The title provides enough information to allow a Soldier to know that the task applies to a rifle company of an IBCT. SBCT and ABCT companies have different attack tasks. If the soldier is looking for a different organization or a different echelon, this task is not the correct task.
The Collective Task T&EO also provides the conditions under which the task should be accomplished as well as the standard to which the task must be accomplished to earn a ‘trained’ proficiency rating. The conditions provided and the standard stated are typically focused on the requirements to achieve the highest evaluation.
The conditions and standards are inclusive of the Objective Task Evaluation Criteria Matrix (OTECM). While set apart from the condition and standards statements, the OTECM conditions and standards provide the evaluator and commander a way to consider the GO and NO GO criteria of each task step in relation to overall task accomplishment.
As an evaluation outline, the T&EO provides evaluators with a method to record completion of tasks steps and if the step was completed correctly, a GO, or incorrectly, a NO GO. Evaluators can also indicate if the step was not evaluated or not applicable (N/A).
Fig 2. GOs and NO GOs on task steps reflect a unit’s ability to perform a task to standard.
The task steps in the T&EO summarize actions which have been determined by the proponent to result in successful task accomplishment. Once again, the outline doesn’t specify how the step is accomplished. In many cases, leaders need to refer to doctrine, unit standard operating procedures, and experience to determine if the unit successfully completed the step. Some steps are identified as critical steps, and some steps are identified as leader steps. Each of these steps receive special consideration when training and evaluating the task.
The Task Performance Summary Block provides evaluators a location to record an overall evaluation of performance. Evaluators record the evaluated unit, the date of the training per iteration, multiple iterations of the task on the same form, and the evaluators rating of task accomplishment.
Fig 3. The Task Performance Summary Block provides evaluators an opportunity to rate unit performance.
A starting point for assessment
Task evaluators can employ their experience to rate task performance as trained, practiced or untrained (T, P, or U). The rating is the evaluators’ opinion on how well the unit executed the task within the conditions and standards. Commanders use the completed T&EO as a starting point for assessment, since it captures an instance or instances of task performance under specific conditions. However, the commander must take a holistic view of feedback when assessing training.
The T&EO provides a significant data point for the commander, but feedback from subordinate leaders, senior commanders, evaluators, and the commander’s personal knowledge and experience informs the proficiency assessment as well. Unit proficiency assessment is more than the accomplishment of an iteration of a task, but task accomplishment is an excellent starting point when considering unit assessments.
The Army Training Network (ATN) allows soldiers access to T&EOs, the Platoon Leader’s Guide to Training Management, and FM 7-0, Training.
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